Sebastian Vettel secured a storming pole position for his home grand prix just two thousandths ahead of Fernando Alonso – the Spaniard takes his first front-row start for Ferrari.
Felipe Massa rounded off the top three giving Ferrari their best performance of the season.
Mark Webber finished in fourth ahead of the two McLaren’s, Button and Hamilton respectively.
Robert Kubica continues his positive form finishing ahead of Williams driver, Rubens Barrichello.
The start of qualifying for the German GP lasted just 5 minutes and 30 seconds before Vitantonio Liuzzi dropped his Force India going onto the start/finish straight – resulting in a red flag.
The heavy impact caused the Italian’s front-left to come loose and bounce across the track right in front of Timo Glock who had to swerve to avoid hitting the wheel.
Liuzzi managed to get out of his car unaided, but will now likely start last dependent on whether his gearbox was damaged in the impact.
Lucas Di Grassi didn’t manage to set a time in the first session due to mechanical issues.
Qualifying classifications for the German GP:
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 Time | Q2 Time | Q3 Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:15.152 | 1:14.249 | 1:13.791 | 22 |
| 04 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:15.334 | 1:14.340 | 1:14.347 | 25 |
| 05 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:15.823 | 1:14.716 | 1:14.427 | 23 |
| 06 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:15.505 | 1:14.488 | 1:14.566 | 20 |
| 03 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:15.216 | 1:14.478 | 1:14.290 | 24 |
| 02 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:14.808 | 1:14.081 | 1:13.793 | 22 |
| 11 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:16.084 | 1:15.026 | 18 | |
| 09 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:16.178 | 1:15.018 | 1:15.179 | 25 |
| 07 | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:15.736 | 1:14.835 | 1:15.079 | 23 |
| 13 | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:16.521 | 1:15.307 | 17 | |
| 08 | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:16.398 | 1:14.698 | 1:15.109 | 25 |
| 10 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:16.387 | 1:14.943 | 1:15.339 | 22 |
| 22 | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 1:18.952 | 3 | ||
| 14 | A. Sutil | Force India | 1:16.220 | 1:15.467 | 11 | |
| 15 | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | 1:16.450 | 1:15.550 | 11 | |
| 12 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:15.951 | 12 | ||
| 16 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:16.664 | 1:15.588 | 14 | |
| 17 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:16.029 | 1:15.974 | 15 | |
| 19 | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:18.300 | 11 | ||
| 18 | J. Trulli | Lotus | 1:17.583 | 12 | ||
| 20 | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:18.343 | 6 | ||
| 24 | L. di Grassi | Virgin | No Time | 1 | ||
| 21 | B. Senna | Hispania | 1:18.592 | 12 | ||
| 23 | K. Yamamoto | Hispania | 1:19.844 | 11 |
(All timing unofficial)
